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Nerve conduction study/emg results

I have an extremely bad problem that some of you may have had and I'd be interested in knowing how you dealt with it. I have extremely bad wrist/hand and now elbow pain, which may have some, if not most, of their origin in nerve compression, be it median nerve compression in the wrist or ulnar nerve compression in the elbow.

However, part of the routine workout for both of these conditions is the nerve conduction study/EMG. In both cases the testing physician said the test won't be valid because of my level of injury (C6), due to the paralysis of muscles and altered sensory patterns, the results can't be conclusively used to justify any surgical intervention.

This leaves me with an extremely bad pain problem resulting in only about 2 to 3 hours a night sleep for the last few years. I have yet to find a physician which will give me the time of day in terms of a full workup once they find out that the nc/emg was done and that "no compression can be determined". Not that it isn't there, it just can't be demonstrated.

My rehab physician comes from a major SCI medical center and is presently in charge of rehab services for a multi-hospital healthcare system. Unfortunately, despite all this his examinations and conclusions often fall short of the mark.

He simply says, nothing doing here, referring to the reports, despite obvious presentations of neurological compression, though presenting itself in an atypical manner.

For instance, the elbow MRI said that the ulnar nerve was located in its proper anatomical place. Based on this he said there is no compression of that nerve. I said the picture on the MRI says nothing about the functioning of the nerve. It is simply making statement as to position. The nerve can be in its proper position and still be compressed. He would hear none of it.

Combine this with the nerve conduction/emg study which could not be completed properly and which the testing physician said that there was no evidence for compression, but that it cannot be ruled out, and he felt confident saying, there is no there there.

In my experience, if you try to get help and the second opinion physicians review your supposedly "normal" tests, they begin to think that you are "doctor shopping" until you get you want, the one doctor that will give you your miracle surgery. All I want is a decent evaluation taking into account all of my neurological issues and their effect on diagnostic testing.